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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Camelot Comes to Hollywood (Notes: 27)

Photo from the set of dir. Guy Ritchie's upcoming film on King Arthur.

With each new technological innovation—from
the printing press to the pen to the word processor—the Arthurian legend has always
benefitted and so it was with films. From the earliest days of silent movies,
the Arthurian legend have been very popular to today; one can expect a big
budget Arthurian movie to hit the screen once every decade, at least, and the
same is true of television series. As such, the output is massive and only some
highlights can be mentioned.

Monty
Python and the Holy Grail is perhaps the best known
modern Arthurian film. Written, performed, and directed by the comedy troupe
known as Monty Python, the film satirized the Arthurian legend and mocked the
super-serious documentaries about Arthur which had been common-place at the
time. Filled with mocking undertones which pull the rug out from underneath the
legend and effectively problematize the many medieval tropes, the film is
widely considered a masterpiece by many, both academics and non-academics
alike.

Joh Boorman’s film Excalibur is another important Arthurian film. Taking all of the
major elements of the Arthurian legend and combining them into a single story,
Boorman focuses on the big ideas of the Arthurian legend which transcend mere
entertainment and become stand-ins for Western culture and heavy-handed
symbolism. The director is not going for authenticity but rather anti-realist
drama.

The 1991 movie The Fisher King, starring Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges, is set
in modern day New York. Following an up and coming radio star who mocks a
seemingly mentally ill caller who later commits a mass-shooting, the DJ
character is close to suicide. Following an attack by a gang where he is rescued
by Robin Williams character, who saw his wife get killed in that restaurant
shooting, and says that he was a university professor who specialized on the
Fisher King part of the Arthurian legend, which causes a mental break. This is
Perry and he is haunted by a red knight throughout the city. Eventually, Perry
is beaten by the same gang members who attacked the DJ where he is put into a
coma; so, believing that he is presented with a chance to do penance, the
former DJ seeks out the New York Holy Grail which so fascinated Perry (which is
merely an elaborate trophy). Eventually, the trophy is obtained and Perry is
given the trophy which, incidentally, also brings him out of his coma. The
theme? The wounded man who cannot die; Perceval and the Fisher King’s roles
constantly being switched by each of the protagonists.

Between 1991 and 2014 there was several
other additional Arthurian films worth noting, such as First Gear (which was notable for its treatment of Queen Guinevere’s
abduction), at least three different variations of Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and a re-imaging of the
Tristan and Isolde story starring James Franco. Some non-Arthurian movies did
make use of Arthurian themes, however: Heath Ledger’s A Knights Tale, is one such example and takes inspiration directly
from the Lancelot story “The Knight in the Cart” with the jousting tournament.

But, the most important contemporary
showing of King Arthur on the modern screen is probably King Arthur, starring Clive Owen. Upon its announcement, scholars
were originally excited since they believed that, for once, the story was going
to be set in its proper historical period, the late fifth or early sixth
century, as would the Anglo-Saxon invasion and Arthur’s mixed identity be taken
seriously; alas, it was not to be as the director used the so-called ‘Sarmation
Theory’ as a premise which stated that there was no actual Arthur and that much
of the legend was merely reworked mythology intermixed with historical facts.
Many of the film’s core ideas are wrong, from the travel papers to the usage of
the word ‘knight,’ the film fails.

While the relative failure and historical
inaccuracy of the Clive Owen piece caused some Arthurian scholars to dread the
possible end of the filmic Arthur, this proved to be inaccurate, as, as of
2014, as prof. Armstrong noted, Guy Richie is in pre-production for a series of
six movies based on King Arthur’s life and legend. Movies which, as you dear
reader will no doubt understand, are now, in 2016, close to release (or, well,
the first installment, at any rate).